The problem with instantaneous electronic communication facilitated by services like Twitter and standard e-mails is that there's no time for fact checking. In Webster City, Iowa, Chief of Police Mike McConnell's phone lines recently lit up like a Christmas tree after reports of a child abductions and warnings of suspicious persons hanging around schools in Webster City began circulating. The reports were all bogus but that didn't stop them from spreading like wild fire through e-mails Facebook postings and text messages.

Chief McConnell spent lots of time on the phone with concerned parents. "These reports are all false and have no basis of fact whatsoever," the Chief told the Daily Freeman Journal.

"These local urban legends began to pop up on Facebook and forwarded text messages over the weekend. If the police department is working a case involving a child abduction or some other situation serious in nature, you won't read about it first on Facebook, a forwarded email, or a forwarded text message. You will hear it from me, the police chief," he said.

While the private sector is absolutely gaga over the money to be made through law enforcement applications for Facebook and Twitter, there is one major issue that has received very little attention. That's the fact that bad news, whether grounded in fact or fiction, now travels at the speed of light.

McConnell said his headaches related to the bogus abduction/ suspicious persons reports started with recent television news coverage regarding a reported abduction in the Des Moines area that developed into rumors. McConnell reminded the public to "use common sense," when reading forwarded emails and texts.

But with a media fixated on child abductions by stranger fed largely by paranoia, most folks are more likely to believe a warning than dismiss it- regardless of the source. "If you receive an alarming text message, take time to check the facts of the message prior to forwarding. This can be done by calling your local police department or law enforcement agency to determine if what you heard is true or not," Chief McConnel said.

"If it is not true, I recommend doing a "reply to all" email indicating that you have checked the validity of the email and it is not true," the chief said.

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